TITLE OF LESSON PLAN:

All about Computers

LENGTH OF LESSON:
Three class periods
GRADE LEVEL:
3-5
SUBJECT AREA:
Technology
CREDIT:
Lynn McNally, tech resources specialist, Winchester Public Schools, Winchester, Virginia.
OBJECTIVES:
Students will understand the following:
free lesson plan, grades k-5 lesson plan, elementary school lesson plan-->

1. The World Wide Web can be a helpful place to find information on certain topics.

2. Two ways to locate information on the Web are through the Internet Library and by using a
search engine.

3. A Web site is a place where groups of people share information and resources on the Internet.

4. The address of a Web site is called a URL, which stands for uniform resource locator.
(Universal resource locatoris also used.)

MATERIALS:
For this lesson, you will need:

Computer with Internet access

PROCEDURE:

1. Ask students to share what they know about using the Internet or the World Wide Web.
Encourage them to talk about Web sites they have visited and what they learned from their visits.
Make sure everyone in the class understands that (a) the Web can be a helpful place to find
information on certain topics, including many topics studied in school, and (b) a Web site is a place
where groups of people share information and resources on the Internet.

2. Ask students how they would go about using the Web to find information on a topic. Share with
the class three ways to begin:
- Ask your teacher or librarian for the addresses of one or more Web sites that offer information on
your topic.
- Use the Internet Public Library, which features Web resources organized, as in an ordinary
library, according to the Dewey Decimal System. The address for the Youth Division of the
Internet Library is http://www.ipl.org/youth/dwey/.
- Use a search engine. The Classroom Connect Class Web Research Page provides links to
numerous search engines for elementary school students. The address for this Web page is
http://www.classroom.net/resource/search.asp.
Students should understand that all of the above methods provide the researcher with a Web
address, or URL, which stands for uniform (or universal)resource locator.By going to that
address, the researcher may find the needed information. If not, he or she should try other
addresses.

3. Ask students to contribute to a list of topics they might want to research on the Web, and record
their topics on the chalkboard. You may add topics of your own to the list.

4. Divide your class into groups, and give each group time to use a computer with Internet access
to research a topic of its choice. (You might have groups submit their first-, second-, and
third-choice topics to you so that you can avoid duplication of topics among groups.)

5. Encourage groups to visit at least three Web sites while researching their topics.

6. Groups should use the information they have found on their topics to prepare oral or written
presentations to share with the class. They should document their presentations with the addresses
of the Web sites they used.

7. Start a classroom library of URLs, listed by topic. The URL library might take the form of a card
file, or be kept online for students to access.

ADAPTATIONS:
Adaptation for younger students
Introduce younger students to the World Wide Web by asking them to name topics they would like
to research, then guiding them through the use of a search engine to find Web sites that offer useful
information on their topics.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
1. Why do the president and vice president's e-mail addresses end in ".gov"? What are some other
e-mail address endings you have noticed? Debate what the categories and standard e-mail address
endings should be or if categories should exist at all.
2. Describe how your class might use e-mail.
3. What information might your class want to share on a Web site? Remember this information
could be text, photographs, drawings, sound, or video. Explain your design for a Web site.

EVALUATION:
You can evaluate groups on their presentations using the following three-point rubric:
- Three points:topic thoroughly researched; at least three URLs cited; presentation clear,
interesting, and very well organized
- Two points:topic adequately researched; only two URLs cited; presentation satisfactorily
organized and presented
- One point:topic inadequately researched; only one URL cited; presentation poorly organized
and presented
You can ask your students to contribute to the assessment rubric by determining a minimum
number of facts to be presented.

EXTENSION:
Create a Class Web Page with CyberNews
Many elementary school classes have created Web pages and published them on the Internet. Your
class, too, can create Web pages. It's not that difficult to do, especially if you have a special
software program designed for creating home pages. If you don't, you can still create Web pages
with any word processor. Your class can give Web design a try with CyberNews, a
Communications: Baby Talk to Bytes theme activity found at the following Web site:discovery.

Visitor Center
Many towns all over the United States have their own visitor centers on the Web. Find out if
your town has its own Web page, and visit it with your class. Then have students critique the site.
What would they add? How would they change it? As a class, write a proposal for improving your
town's Web site. If your town does not have a site, students might design one. Also, they might
visit sites for other towns. For example, your class can check out the weather, transportation, maps,
village mall, libraries, museums, and townspeople of Blacksburg, Virginia, at blacksburg.

SUGGESTED READINGS:
Internet for Kids! A Beginner's Guide to Surfing the Net
Ted Pedersen and Francis Moss, Price Stern Sloan, Inc., (Member of the Putnam & Grosset
Group), 1995
This book, which can be used by both Windows and Mac computers, gives step-by-step
instructions to set up your e-mail as well as sample projects and a parents'guide.
The Online Classroom
Eileen Cotton, ERIC/EDINFO Press
This book is designed to save teachers many hours of wandering in virtual space and offers a vast
array of sample lessons of varying levels of sophistication. Each lesson provides goals, rationales,
objectives, procedures, and evaluation guidelines.

WEB LINKS:
Blacksburg Visitor's Center
Visit Blacksburg, Virginia the virtual wayon a computer! Check out the weather, transportation,
maps, village mall, libraries, museums, and townspeople using the Internet.
http://www.bev.net/blacksburg/index.html

VOCABULARY:

e-mail
messages sent and received electronically (as between terminals linked by telephone lines or
microwave relays).
Context:
Each day, the staff makes a list of that day's e-mail.
modem
A device that converts information from your computer into signals that can travel through
telephone lines.
Context:
A modem takes information from your computer and turns it into a signal that can travel through
the telephone lines.
Uniform Resource Locator (URL)
The address of a Web page, which allows people to find the page on the Internet.
Context:
A Web page address is called a URL; that is an acronym that stands for uniform resource locator.
animation
A series of still pictures that appear to be moving.
Context:
Some Web sites have graphics that move on the screen called animation.
scanner
A device that allows one to convert pictures into images on the computer.
Context:
You can also use a scanner to turn pictures into images on the computer that you can put on your
Web site.
Revolution
A sudden, radical, or complete change.
Context:
Revolution of technology has changed the way we work, travel and communicate.
Navigate
To steer a course through a medium.
Context:
Sailors used to have to navigate using a compass and by figuring out where they were in
relationship to the stars.

ACADEMIC STANDARDS:
Grade Level:
6-8

Subject Area:
science
Standard:
Understands the nature of scientific inquiry.
Benchmarks:
Uses appropriate tools (including computers) and techniques to gather, analyze and interpret
scientific data.
Grade Level:
K-2
Subject Area:
history
Standard:
Understands major discoveries in science and technology, some of their social and economic
effects, and the major scientists and inventors responsible for them.
Benchmarks:
Understands the significance of the printing press, the computer, and electronic developments in
communication and their impact on the spread of ideas.
Grade Level:
6-8
Subject Area:
science
Standard:
Understands the nature of scientific inquiry.
Benchmarks:
Uses appropriate tools (including computers) and techniques to gather, analyze and interpret
scientific data.
Grade Level:
3-5
Subject Area:
science
Standard:
Understands the interactions of science, technology and society.
Benchmarks:
Knows that people continue inventing new ways of doing things, solving problems and getting
work done; these new ideas and inventions often affect other peoplesometimes the effects are

good and sometimes they are bad.

Grade Level:
3-5
Subject Area:
language arts
Standard:
Effectively gathers and uses information for research purposes.
Benchmarks:
Uses key words, indexes, cross references, and letters on volumes to find information for research
topics.

DiscoverySchool.com
http://www.discoveryschool.com
Copyright 2001 Discovery.com.
Teachers may reproduce copies of these materials for classroom use only.